Planday vs Rotaready Evo (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Planday grades higher than Rotaready Evo: 2.6 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Planday grades higher on the free plan, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Planday
Rota planning, punch clock and payroll reports for shift-based teams
Free trial · from $2.99/mo
Rotaready Evo
Rota, HR and time tracking software for hospitality teams
Paid
Which one is for you
Pick Planday if
- Fits if you run restaurants, bars or hotels and want wage costs next to revenue
- Works for managers who need a warning before a rota breaks working-time rules
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're on Starter and need leave tracking, payroll links or the API, as they wait for Plus
- Pricey if you want auto-scheduling, which only comes on Pro, priced by quote
- Not for you if you have fewer than 5 staff, as Starter bills at least 5 users and Plus at least 10
- Watch out: users are billed in bundles of five, so 23 users pay for 25, and Plus adds a $30 monthly fee
- Watch out: SMS and onboarding help cost extra, with no published prices, and there's no free plan
Pick Rotaready Evo if
- Fits if you run a restaurant, bar or hotel and want rotas tied to forecasts and budgets
- Works for a hospitality group that is happy to get a quote
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a posted price, as the pages show a calculator and quote buttons only
- Not for you if you are outside hospitality, as the product page does not address other industries
- Watch out: the managed payroll bureau costs extra
- Watch out: it is now presented as Rotaready Evo on The Access Group's site
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAPlandayGood | 1.8GPARotaready EvoWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $2.99 a user a month, billed in bundles of five, so 15 staff are three bundles: $44.85 a month, with no yearly rate listed. That's the dear end of normal here. Plus, which has leave and payroll links, is $30 plus $4.49 a user, so $97.35 for 15. | CNo price is shown. The pricing page offers a calculator and quote buttons for three tiers, so nothing sits against the $5.65 middle. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan. There's a 30-day trial of Plus with no credit card needed, long enough to build a few real rotas. | FNo free plan and no trial on record, so you pay before you use it. |
| Features | BRota templates built around availability, working-time warnings, a geolocated punch clock, shift swaps in the staff app, and wage costs set against revenue. Across its plans that's the whole job, with auto-scheduling only on the custom-priced Pro. | CRotas, forecasting and budgeting, time and attendance, HR records, wellbeing insights and an API. A managed payroll bureau is an extra-cost option, and the pages speak only to hospitality. |
| Ease of use | B4.55 from 4,271 App Store ratings, below the top-rated apps in this category. | CNo store rating on record. Rotas, staff and forecasts have to be set up first. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage 50, Paychex and Personio among its connections, and an API on Plus. No desktop app. | BWeb plus iOS and Android apps, with an API listed. |
| Best for | rotas for restaurants, hotels and care teams | rota planning for hospitality |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Planday and Rotaready Evo. How we grade
Where they differ
- Planday also covers auto-scheduling and team chat.
In commonWebiOSAndroidPublic APIShift schedulingTime clockEmployee recordsTime off
At a glance
| Planday | Rotaready Evo | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Paid |
| Starts at | $2.99 per user / month (Starter, minimum 5 users) | Not published |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial of the Plus plan, no credit card required | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Planday | The Access Group |
| Price read from | planday.com | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Planday
- Users are billed in bundles of five, so 23 users are charged as 25. Starter needs at least 5 users and Plus at least 10.
- Plus adds a monthly subscription fee on top of the per-user price; the page data sets it at 30 in the visitor's currency, and Pro is priced by quote.
- Leave and absence management, payroll integrations and the API need Plus; auto-scheduling needs Pro.
- Each SMS sent through Planday and any onboarding help cost extra, and no prices are published for either.
Rotaready Evo
- Prices are not shown: the pricing page offers a calculator and Get a quote buttons for Pro, Pro + Forecasting and Premium.
- It is built for hospitality; the product page does not address other industries.
- A fully managed payroll bureau is listed as an extra-cost option.
- Rotaready is now presented as Rotaready Evo, a brand of The Access Group, and its pages sit on the Access Group site.
Key features
Planday
- Rota templates and availability
- Rotas are built from templates around the availability staff share, with warnings when a shift breaks your working-time rules. Pro adds auto-scheduling.
- Geolocated punch clock
- Staff clock in and out on their phones only from approved places, or at a kiosk station using the Planday Kiosk app, and managers see who is late across locations.
- Employee app
- Employees view their schedule, swap or hand over shifts, apply for open shifts, request time off and see their earnings in the iOS and Android app.
- Payroll reports and integrations
- Approved hours, overtime and absence become payroll reports, and Plus connects them to payroll systems such as Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage 50 and Paychex.
- Staff cost and revenue reports
- Reports set wage costs against revenue and forecasts, so managers can see where a rota is over- or under-staffed.
- Messenger and newsfeed
- Managers message staff in the app or by SMS and post updates to a newsfeed; in-app messaging is included, while each SMS is charged.
Rotaready Evo
- Rota scheduling
- A drag-and-drop rota editor with live labor cost calculations, working-time rules, shift swaps, approvals and a rota assistant that suggests who to put on each open shift.
- Forecasting and budgeting
- Sales forecasts draw on weather, reservations and notable events; the Pro + Forecasting and Premium plans carry the forecasting feature set.
- Time and attendance
- Clock in by GPS, PIN or photo, match attendance to shifts, flag issues automatically and export timesheets to payroll.
- HR records
- Employee records, holiday allowances, absence, unlimited document storage and legal e-signatures, with onboarding through the app.
- Wellbeing insights
- Employees give feedback at the end of each shift, and managers see sentiment by location, manager and shift.
- Integrations and API
- Integrations with EPOS, reservations, payroll, applicant tracking and property management systems, plus an open API, webhooks and SSO.
Plans
Planday
Starter$2.99
per user / month
Minimum 5 users. Scheduling, simple time tracking, working-time rule warnings, basic payroll reports, team messaging and live chat support.
Plus$30
per month, plus $4.49 per user
Minimum 10 users. Adds advanced scheduling, leave and absence, payroll and revenue integrations, API access, employee records and documents.
ProCustom
For larger organizations: auto-scheduling, custom planning metrics, configurable structure, custom roles, phone support and custom setup.
Rotaready Evo
Pricing could not be confirmed. See theaccessgroup.com.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Planday or Rotaready Evo?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Planday starts at $2.99 per user / month (Starter, minimum 5 users), and Rotaready Evo has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Planday or Rotaready Evo?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Planday nor Rotaready Evo has a free plan. Planday has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.